To Deadheads, Particle People and all others interested in new music, will you be up to the Herculean task of dancing all night with HYDRA when they come to your town this April?
The Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart and Particle, a pioneering electronic/jam-rock band, have come together to form HYDRA. The new group will launch a 14-date tour debuting their innovative sound nationwide, beginning April 7 in Santa Cruz, Calif. and ending on April 24 in Washington, DC. Stops include The Fillmore in San Francisco, The Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, and New York's Roseland Ballroom while wrapping it's way around the country.
This union marks the first time Hart has joined an existing act to create a new unit. Of the venture he explains, "Hydra is about extreme music. Extreme music for extreme people. I need it!" Equally as excited about the collaboration, the members of Particle declare, "Hydra's sound is a departure from anything we've ever done before. It's a whole new breed of sonic exploration." Concertgoers can expect to hear original material such as "Heart Of The Hydra," "Creature of Comfort" and "The Glow" as well as a sampling of Particle songs, and a dose from Hart's catalogue, including the possibility of fresh takes on Grateful Dead classics.
Mickey Hart is a Grammy award winner and a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee. His near 40 years with the Dead plus myriad of world music projects have brought a heightened awareness to the role of the drum in global cultures. As half the percussion tandem known as the Rhythm Devils, Mickey transcended the conventions of rock drumming. Particle has enjoyed a whirlwind career trajectory since forming in 2000. The instrumental quartet's signature 'funktronic' blend has earned them a core audience of adventurous music fans dubbed Particle People. Highlight performances include Coachella, Bonnaroo, Burning Man, Austin City Limits Festival, and recent performances in Japan and Europe. Particle was recently hailed as one of pop's "New Faces" by Rolling Stone and their debut album Launchpad garnered critical praise and was named one of 2004's Top Ten Records by the Associated Press.
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
El B,
Hope they don't disappoint.
I moved this up and over to Advance.net, which includes these places.
Potentially read by hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Thank you for the post. - Temple Stark
2 - The SeaClasper
Wow - I am a huge Mickey Hart fan, and I found this concert in San Diego to pretty much suck. Maybe I had totally bamboozled myself into thinking that I was going to hear some high-quality exploratory electronic jazz and Mickey's trademark insane percussion. What I got was basically a rave. The band jammed endlessly on one not particularly stimulating riff for twenty minutes before switching to another, slightly modified riff and grinding that one out in techno mode for a half hour. Half of the time I Hart was so low in the mix I couldn't hear him! Anyway, maybe I'm just too much of an old-school deadhead to enjoy this new musical direction - if you like 'trance', 'techno', or whatever this stuff is called, while wacked out on ecstacy, go for it!
3 - Rick Fletcher
Well Boy Howdy!
Just saw the Hydra show at The Madison theatre in Covington, Ky. Though not a "DeadHead" by any stretch of the imagination, I do enjoy fresh, new music that is original. A friend played Particle's album and I liked it and agreed to go see the Hydra show with him. He's Never wrong about what groups to see live. Great crowd, beautiful venue. (the Madison theatre is an old Art Deco movie house that has been restored and remodeled to accomodate live music) The opening act was a group called Scratch Track that consisted of one hard rocking funky acustic guitarist and two vocalists who alternated between rapping and producing some hard hitting harmonies. I hate rap, but these guys gave it something fresh that rocked.
Hydra took the stage and jammed for over an hour before taking a break. After the intermission, Hydra returned to the stage and jammed over an hour again. Yes the jams were long and sometimes led up blind alleys. That's the risk you take when you're in a band that uses funky open-ended improvisation as a means of musical expression as opposed to back up tapes and playing the record note for note everynight. As Jimmy Page once said in an interview during the No Quarter tour..."You have to take risks if you want to fly." And He would know.
There were great moments, a few less than stellar moments, fun moments and a sense of community spirit that obviously comes from Hart's previous long-term gig. I had fun. The band gave an honest, clear performance. Which was available on CD after the show for $20.00. Nice momento. These guys aint trying to crack Billboards top 20, but it would be a great day for music if they did! Imagine what could follow.
Rock on,
Rick Fletcher
4 - Charles The Roadie
Hydra schmydra, Hart! Hart's band's music is boarhog tits to say the most. Useless! Furthermore, Hart has f.....g admitted to using the name "HYDRA" which is the name of a great rock band from the 70s that is still making music and records today. Hydra was originally on the Allman Brothers' label Capricorn Records and had two albums released in 74 and 75. Then they moved to Polydor in 77. The original Hydra toured with ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush, and then some. They have a new live album coming out soon as I have read about recently. I have included the URL to their website. For some bonafide rock and roll, the "real" Hydra has it. Hart, do the lettters F.O. mean anything to you?
Charles The Roadie